Yours, Mine and Howls: Werewolves in Love, Book 2

by Kinsey W. Holley

  They went back to the ravine more than once, but didn’t make it to the hayloft.

  She sat on the front porch at night and watched the wolves run, listened to them howl and contemplated with amazement the fact that this was now her home, the place she never thought she’d be allowed to choose.

  She was happier and more relaxed than she’d been at any time in her life, and though Dec’s secret hovered like a large black rain cloud on the edge of her suddenly sunny world, she managed to ignore it.

  Cade didn’t pressure her for a commitment. They never said “I love you”, but as the weeks slipped by, she became convinced he felt the same way she did. She didn’t even obsess over the love vs. biochemistry question.

  She started to believe in happily ever after. Never did she stop to think all hell might break loose at once, threatening everything and everyone she loved.

  Stupid Dead Girl.

  He wanted to take her out on a real date, to his favorite restaurant in the heart of the historical district. He gave her a credit card and told her if she spent less than two hundred on a dress, the whole thing was off. She came home five hundred dollars later with a fitted, low-cut emerald green number and the hottest pair of black fuck me pumps he’d seen in years.

  He was behind the bar, mixing drinks for himself and Michael, when she emerged from the bedroom. He let out a long, sincere whistle. Dressed up, she looked at least twenty-five. His eyes devoured the dress clinging to her every curve. Cut just low enough to be sexy and still decent, it accentuated her perfect tits.

  Michael was staring at Ally with a disturbingly appreciative eye. Cade recalled his best friend’s words the first time they’d seen her.

  “You clean up pretty good,” Michael said.

  “Shut up,” she purred, flashing those dimples and smiling at Cade with a look that said she knew what she was doing to him, and she liked it.

  “Yeah, shut up, wolf.”

  “Where’s Becca?” Ally asked.

  Michael knocked his drink back. “Somewhere with Sarah Jane and Dec.”

  Cade put his hands on her hips and slid them around to her backside. “Those are some serious shoes.” He loved what a pair of very high heels did to a woman’s ass.

  She gave a little wiggle and whispered, “I hope I can walk in them.”

  “You’re doing fine. Walking’s not what I’ve got in mind anyway.”

  Michael cleared his throat. Cade ignored him, kissing Ally lightly on the neck. “Take your hair down.” She’d pinned it up loosely, wisps of it hanging in her face. It was pretty, but he wanted to see the lovely mass of honey gold spilling over her shoulders.

  “What?”

  “Your hair. Wear it down.”

  “Why?”

  He laughed. “Because I asked you to.”

  She smiled back and nipped his chin. “You didn’t ask. You ordered.”

  “Leaving now.”

  Neither of them turned to watch Michael go.

  His thumb stroked her throat as he kissed her, knowing it made her go limp. “Come on, baby,” he whispered. “I love to play with your hair.”

  She bit his lip. “It’ll give you something to look forward to.”

  “Do you have to argue with everything I say?”

  “Do you have to always tell me what to do?” She started for the front door, trusting him to watch her walk away. He didn’t watch—he grabbed. He got her from behind and nuzzled the back of her neck, loving the way she shivered and laughed at the tickle of his beard.

  “I’m too lenient with you.”

  “I’m too nice to you.”

  His cell phone rang.

  “Let it go to voicemail. Come on.” She spun from his arm, grabbed his free hand and pulled.

  He looked at the number and frowned. “Fremont Police Department.”

  She sighed. “I guess you should take it.”

  “Hello?”

  “Cade? It’s me.”

  “Oh my God, Dylan?” She reached for the phone. He shook his head and pushed her away.

  Dylan groaned. “Oh shit, is Ally right there?”

  “Yes, son, she’s here. Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine, I’m just in a little trouble.”

  “Let me talk to him.”

  “No. I’ll handle it.”

  She put a hand to her mouth and glared at him.

  “Cade, you there?”

  “Yes. What happened, Dylan?”

  “I’m in jail.”

  “Oh, God.”

  “Ally, hush. What happened, son?”

  “Um, has Ally ever told you about a guy named Jakob Lind?”

  Ally’s face went white. Her fingernails dug into his forearm. He wrapped his arm around her neck and hugged her to him.

  “I know who he is. What happened?”

  “Well, I was at Cue’s with Heather. We were just hanging out, playing pool. I looked up and there he was, staring at me.”

  “And?”

  “Well, I didn’t know what to think. I mean, we’d never had a problem. He seemed to like me, talked about taking me fishing or something stupid like that. I figured he wanted to get in good with Ally, you know? Then when she dumped him—”

  “Dylan, son, they’re not going to let you talk for long.”

  “Oh yeah. Sorry.”

  He winced with regret, because now he could hear the fear and worry in the pup’s voice.

  “He comes up to me and doesn’t even say hi, just says ‘where is she?’ He was wasted. I said ‘Ally’s not here’, and he looks at Heather and says ‘tell your girlfriend to get lost, we need to talk’, I say ‘fuck off’, he says if I don’t talk to him, ‘that weird fucking bitch will be sorry’.”

  Ally was trembling in his arms.

  “I didn’t want a big scene in the bar, since I’m technically not supposed to be drinking—” he wouldn’t be nineteen for another two weeks, but the bartenders at Cue’s were lenient with Cade’s wolves “—and I said ‘fine, let’s go outside’. So we did.” He took a deep breath. “And we get out there and he just goes nuts, screaming at me about how he knows there’s something weird about Ally, and she almost killed him and he won’t let her get away with it and it took him six months to find me and then we disappear…”

  “Wait. Six months to find you?”

  “Yeah, I know. We haven’t been here that long. So I said I didn’t know what he was talking about and I swear to God, Cade, I didn’t lose my temper, I just wanted him to shut up and go away.” The kid sounded worried, but calm.

  “Dylan, did anyone see this?”

  “No. We were alone in the parking lot. I told him I knew he’d messed with Ally and he was lucky one of us didn’t go after him, and he said she ruined his fucking life and cost him a lot of money, and he tried to hit me with a slapjack.”

  “What? Are you okay?” Ally shouted.

  “Baby, hush. Obviously he’s okay.”

  “I’m fine—I mean, he was drunk, I had plenty of time to block, but I knocked him out when I hit him. When he came to, he started screaming that I attacked him first—even though he was drunk off his ass and holding the slapjack. And the cop who was working security arrested both of us.”

  “So Lind’s in jail too?”

  “Yeah, in the squad car he was screaming that I attacked him and that my mom’s some kind of ninja bitch, and the cop who took us in told him to shut the fuck up, then he puked and passed out and I had to ride the rest of the way next to him.” Cade heard pride in those last words, and he hid a smile for Ally’s sake. Lind was trouble, no doubt, but Dylan had acquitted himself well. Nothing like getting in a fight, getting busted and handling it better than your opponent to make a young alpha feel all grown up.

  “Hang tight, pup. We’re on our way.”

  “Okay. Thanks, Cade.”

  He followed Ally into the bedroom.

  “Baby, you don’t need to—”

  “Don’t tell me not to come.”

/>   She changed into jeans and a white cotton blouse with lace trim. With the loose tendrils of hair falling in her face, she looked soft and feminine and very touchable.

  If Dylan had been sitting in jail because of a fight with anyone but the asshole who’d attacked his mate, Cade would’ve insisted they make time for a quickie. Every alpha wolf did at least one night in jail before he reached twenty-one. It was almost expected, like the military stint they did in order to learn self-control.

  “I’m sure Shepherd will let me—”

  “Who’s Shepherd?”

  “Dent Sheperd’s the police chief. He’s a good guy. He’ll let me post bail and bring Dylan home tonight, but it could take a couple of hours.”

  “Fine. Let’s go.”

  He caught her arm as she brushed past him. She tried to pull away, but he put both arms around her and hugged her close.

  “He’s fine, and he’s going to be fine,” he said into her ear. He felt her beginning to relax. “Trust me to take care of my wolves, sweetheart.”

  Immediately she stiffened. Before he could ask why, she pushed him away so hard he stumbled back and nearly fell onto the bed.

  “What the—?”

  “Don’t give me that my wolf shit!” she snarled through tears which hadn’t been in her eyes ten seconds ago. “You already took Seth away from me. You can’t have Dylan.”

  “Baby, I didn’t mean to—”

  She put her hands over her face and took a few deep breaths. Another ten seconds later, she was in complete control again, no trace of tears. “I want to leave. Now.”

  After a quick word to Michael, they were on their way.

  Chapter Twenty

  The first minutes in the car passed in brittle silence. She stared straight ahead with a shuttered expression. He could feel her misery, though. He’d learned to read all her moods, no matter how quickly they changed. Tonight she was wretched and angry, and it was his fault. While he wouldn’t apologize, he had to try to explain.

  He kept his voice low and calm. “Ally, that day in your room, I was out of my head. You tried to leave and I didn’t know why. I thought you were playing me.” She stared out her window as he talked. “I took Seth to piss you off and to keep you from leaving. If I’d known what was going on in your mind—”

  Her head whipped around. “So it was my fault you did it?”

  Irritated at the drama, he took a deep breath. “No. But if I had it to do over again, I wouldn’t handle it that way.”

  “But you’re not sorry.”

  He took his eyes off the road for a minute to look at her. “What do you want me to say, Ally? They’ve joined my pack. That makes them my wolves. And you’re my mate, so why does it bother you?”

  She went back to staring out the window until they got to town.

  Zelma Holmes, a grandmotherly clerk who’d worked for the department since Cade was a pup, was on duty behind the intake desk at the quiet police station. Even on a Friday night, Fremont didn’t get rowdy. She smiled at him as if he’d shown up for a social call.

  “Hi, Cade! How are you tonight? Is this lovely young lady the mate I’ve heard so much about?”

  Ally blushed, smiling and responding with her customary good manners. “Yes ma’am, I’m Allison Kendall. It’s nice to meet you.”

  “Honey, you don’t look old enough to vote!”

  Ally started to answer, but he cut her off.

  “Mrs. Holmes, I’d like to pay Dylan’s bail and get him home. We’re both worried about him.”

  She smiled gaily, showing a mouthful of badly fitting, smoke-stained dentures. “Oh, you don’t owe anything. We told the boy he was free to go, just like that foreign idiot they dragged in here with him. Once the man showed up and explained how it was all a mistake, Hank told them they could go. The foreign fella hightailed it outta here, but your nephew said he’d rather wait for you. He seemed worried.”

  “I’m sorry? What man? Who explained what, and why did Cash let them go?”

  Hank Cash, a middle-aged sergeant fated never to advance any further, was a vocal bigot who didn’t like wolves. Cade had hoped he wouldn’t be on duty tonight, or else bailing Dylan out might take longer than he’d led Ally to believe. Which was another reason he hadn’t wanted her to come.

  “Why don’t you come with me? I’ll take you back to see the boy.”

  There was no one else in the intake room. Still, it was odd that Zelma would leave the front desk like that. And she wasn’t normally so cheery or chatty.

  He started to tell Ally to wait, but she was on his heels as they walked through the security door to the holding tank. He wouldn’t argue in front of strangers.

  Hank Cash leaned against the open door of Dylan’s cell. The only other prisoners tonight were a couple of disheveled frat types who whistled at Ally when she walked past. A look and a growl from Cade sent them running back to their benches. It earned him a grin from Ally.

  “I’m telling you, kid, you’ve got plenty of time to get back to Cue’s and that pretty girlfriend of yours. This whole thing was a— Oh, there you are, MacDougall.” Cash straightened at their approach. For the first time in their acquaintance, he nearly smiled at Cade. He did smile at Ally, nodding his head and saying, “Ma’am.” Cade didn’t feel like introducing them.

  “Cash, what’s going on here?”

  Dylan leapt to his feet. “Ally, you’ll never believe who showed up!”

  The sergeant interrupted. “MacDougall, I was just explaining to your nephew that since his altercation with the foreign guy was clearly not his fault, and I shouldn’t even have arrested him to begin with, he’s welcome to leave. He wanted to wait for you.”

  “Son? What happened?”

  Dylan looked fit to burst, waiting for a chance to speak. “It was that weird dude we saw that day, Ally! He showed up here!”

  “What?” She goggled, looking a little pale again.

  “Ally, what the hell is he talking about?”

  She ignored him. He fucking hated when she did that.

  “What did he do?” she asked.

  The words poured out of Dylan in an excited rush. “He came down here with this guy!” He pointed his thumb at Cash. “They were talking, and the weird guy was telling the cop that he knew me and Lind, and that Lind was a, a jerk or something, and he—I mean the weird guy—was sure it was Lind’s fault, and the whole thing was just a misunderstanding, and they should just let us go. He seemed pissed off at Lind, told him he’d caused enough trouble and he didn’t want to see him—Lind—again, and Lind got mad and started to say something but the old guy just said ‘you won’t argue with me, you’ll leave town now’ and so Lind shut up, just like that, and then…then it got really weird.”

  “Dylan,” Ally said anxiously, “Just tell me what happened.”

  “He looked at me, and he said, ‘Tell Eirny I’m sorry, I meant no harm. I want to see her’.”

  Ally gasped and looked at Cade.

  The world tilted for a second. He grabbed a bar of the cell to stay upright. To hear his mother’s name here, in such a bizarre context…

  He knew he needed to ask Ally a question, but a painful buzzing noise in his head made it hard to think.

  “Cade? Baby? You okay?”

  Dylan and Cash were looking at him, Dylan worriedly and Cash in confusion.

  He focused on Ally. “What’s he talking about? What weird guy? And why would he know my mother?”

  Dylan started to answer, but Ally stopped him. “Let’s get out of here. Right now—we don’t need to talk about it here.”

  The part of Cade’s mind still working properly was grateful, and annoyed, at the way she quietly took over as soon as she saw he was in trouble.

  “Dylan, come on, sweetie. Sergeant Cash—” the cop blinked and smiled at her “—we’re going to talk to Chief Shepherd about this in the morning.”

  On their way out, Cade asked, “Ally, what the hell is going on here?”

  Sh
e shook her head. “Wait ’til we’re in the car.”

  He made no move to turn the car on once they were buckled up. His mind had rebooted itself and was functioning again. He turned to look at Ally, who sat lost in thought.

  “High Fae?”

  She looked up, surprised. “Has to be.”

  She had Dylan tell him about a strange man who’d watched them and followed Dylan the day she got Becca’s hair cut. Something cold and slimy crawled across his skin as he listened to a description of the stranger. When Dylan recounted the man’s questions about their mothers, Cade exploded.

  “Why the fuck would you not tell me about this?” he shouted loud enough to be heard at the ranch. Behind him, Dylan whimpered.

  Ally had been twisted around, talking to Dylan in the backseat. Now she turned to face him, but she didn’t, as he expected, lose her own temper. She peered at him for a minute and then said quietly, “I’m sorry. We decided he was some doped out Fae, and then when you got home the next day, everything happened and I just forgot about it.”

  “What, you think a doped out Fae is normal? You think we get them around here all the time?”

  She shrugged, face drawn with worry. “I didn’t think about that. I’ve met a few in Houston, and I’ve never heard of them hurting anyone. They’re too stoned to be violent, and with their talents dulled, they’re not dangerous. We assumed he mistook Dylan and Becca for someone else, and we forgot about it.”

  “But obviously he recognized them because he knows who my mother is!”

  “So then why’d he ask who Dylan’s mother was, or Becca’s?”

  “Yeah,” Dylan piped up. “When I told him my mom was Gracie, he didn’t believe me, and that’s when he started with the war gulf crap.”

  “So did you talk to him when he showed up here tonight?”

  “Not really. Lind was yelling, and he told Lind to get lost—oh! I see what you mean about Fae,” the teenager mused. Cade snorted in exasperation. “He told Lind to leave, and Lind left. He told Cash and that old lady it was all a big mistake and they should let us go, so they did. But if he can mind whammy people, why didn’t it work on me? That day in town, he looked at me and said ‘you didn’t see me’, but I still knew I saw him.”